Doug E. Pudge

Showing Appreciation

You know, I was thinking. The last couple of months has been nothing but a blurr! The lovely Mrs. M and I are running at a pace that I haven't ever experienced before. Between the both of us having full time careers, two sons at home, one daughter in Traverse City, a bed ridden mother-in-law and a house that we are departely trying to finish, and we are having a hard time making enough time for each other. Yesterday we were both finishing up work Rachel had left Daniel at school and needed to go back and finish up some work. We were on the phone with each other, Rachel sounded a little hyper on the other end and was talking a mile a minute! I was trying to sort out what was going on and what project(s) that needed my attention once I got home. I must have sounded angry because she kicked it in to different gear and became a little defensive. She finally asked what I was upset about and I simply said "I'm not upset, I'm just trying to figure out what you want because you sound so hyper." At that point she began to tell me about her afternoon that absolutely frustrated her (now I didn't have a great day either so you can see why some of this happened) and she was trying to clear her head and get down to business. So we made a decision on the top three or four tasks that needed to be handled last night and wrapped up our conversation. But something kept bugging me and I couldn't put my finger on it! I WAS beginning to get upset and I didn't know why but I did know that I wasn't upset about the conversation we had or about the plan for the evening. Not knowing what else to do I began to just make the preparations for what I needed to do, I continued to drive home and I also began to pray. When I got home I still wasn't quite right! I was still feeling this thing going on in my head but I decided that one thing I was not going to do is take it out on Rachel or the boys. I got to work with ripping up some old carpeting and hadn't done much when Rachel got home. She came up and gave me a hug and a kiss and said "you're amazing"! Funny, but from that point on my evening got better! We accomplished most of what we set out to do and just about fell out on the couch from exhaustion when it was all over!
Here's the problem. I was feeling under appreciated! Nothing anybody has done made me feel this way but it was my own selfish pride taking over. Rachel does a fantastic job of letting me know how much I am loved and appreciated but sometimes I just get overwhelmed. When she took 30 seconds to do what she did it made all of the difference in the world to me. It also reminded me that I need to be the same way with her, the boys and everyone else who is important to me in my life. Take the time today to tell someone "thank you" or "I appreciate you". You never know what that might mean to them. Be blessed beyond belief today.

posted by Doug E. Pudge @ 7:20 AM